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I think that the pike is a fascinating fish, beautiful, but a little scary with its mouth full of teeth and its deadly eating habits, the beauty and the beast at the same time. As easy as it can be to catch on the right day just as impossible it can be on the wrong day. Pikes are known to have marked activity periods and periods of inactivity. I have often experienced how a lake can seem dead for hours without any takes at all, and then suddenly an activity period starts and you catch fish all the time. A change of the weather will often start a period but sometimes it's impossible to say why the fish suddenly got active. My largest pike so far is a monster of 121 cm. of course caught on a fly and released. The week after I got another mamma of 117 cm. Another big pike was a more than 110 cm. (43 inch) and approx. 11 kilo (24 lbs) fish caught (and released) at the Swedish south east coast march 2003. In Northern Sweden there are virgin pikewaters everywhere with the strongest pikes I've ever caught. My largest from upthere is a strong pike of 117-cm. (46-inch). My largest pike at home in Denmark is a fish of approx. 100 cm. (40 inch) and an estimated weight of (perhaps even more) 8 kilos (17 lbs.) also caught on a fly and released. |
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Flyfishing for pike gives good sport and great action if you like full flex on your flyrod. The take is brutal, usually it feels like your fly is stuck in a stone or a piece of wood on the bottom but after a second it comes alive. The fight usually isn’t especially wild even though a pike can make a good run or two. But of course, the larger pikes give heavier fights. Pikes living in streaming water or rivers are usually much stronger and fights a lot more than the ones living in still water... |
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Landing the pike can on the other hand be rather thrilling, especially if you land the fish by hand, what I prefer. The pike will usually go berserk when it comes near you and shake its head with the mouth wide open. Usually a careful landing by the gills will be more harmful for the fisher than for the pike, and it is a good method if you want to release the fish. Netting is the safest method, but when fly-fishing it is irritating to carry an enormous net around, and that’s the reason why most pike fly-fishers use the "hand landing". I release all my pikes, the only exceptions are fish that is damaged badly, those I bring home for eating. |
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The best tackle for pike fishing is a # 8/9 rod with a short shootinghead or a WF line with a heavy front taper. These lines are able to carry the large and often heavy flies. The bite leader should be at least 30 cm. (one foot) of 1,o mm. nylon or wire. A rod length of 1,0 mm. nylon connected to the flyline by loop-to-loop is working okay if there aren't too much "snags" on the bottom. If you are fishing in "tricky" waters you must tie a piece of nylon with less strength than the fly-line into the leader to be able to break the leader if your fly get stuck in the bottom. A pair of pliers is a must for unhooking the pike without getting hurt... |
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Synthetic materials are perfect for pike flies because they are strong and don’t absorb water. A large fly with natural hair and feathers will become heavier after absorption of water and can be unpleasant or almost impossible to cast. Another problem occurs if you tie in a body of f. ex. dubbing or similar materials, the pikes teeth will get stuck in the materials and that might give a bad hooked fish. The synthetic materials are slippery so when you set the hook the materials won't be a problem. Flies made of flash are extremely good. They are easy to tie, light and easy to cast, they give no hooking problems and they look much larger than they are, especially if you mix some holographic flash with ordinary flash. And they attract pikes more than other flies, in my opinion. Some weight is necessary to make the fly dive under the surface, and f. ex. ball chain eyes, tungsten eyes or some cooper wire will also give the fly a "jigging" movement that will be attractive... |
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The hook should be with a wide gape, strong and sharp. I have used Kamasan medium heavy wet fly hooks size 2 and 4 or, what I think are the best hooks even though they are not made for pike flies at all, Partridge single low water salmon hooks size 1/0 and 2/0. The partridge hooks have always hooked the pikes perfect and it is very few hooked pikes that I have lost. |
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